Strength of Men
by Herenya902
Summary: When Celebrimbor is ripped from Talion in the wake of the forging of their new ring, Talion finds that he is willing to sacrifice it to rescue Celebrimbor from Shelob's torture. Unsurprisingly, Celebrimbor does not appreciate the gesture.


The heat of the forge would have made Talion's skin blister had he been a mere man. As it was, the depths of Mount Doom were just past comfortable, although comfort was far from his mind as the chamber echoed with the sound of metal striking metal. His hands, glowing blue with Celebrimbor's power, held a mithril hammer in one hand, while the other braced against the anvil. Bringing it down once more, the hammer struck the brightly glowing ring that they had been crafting for several days. Now, it was nearly done. Talion had felt the wraith pour his soul into the creation, and he knew some of his own had seeped in as well. This was a pure ring, a powerful ring, one capable of defying even Sauron himself.

With that thought in both of their minds, Talion and Celebrimbor brought the hammer down one last time, and the clash sent a powerful wave of blue energy ripping through the air, throwing Talion back onto the rocks.

For several moments, Talion saw only blackness and felt nothing. Then, a blinding pain shot through him, and his hands went to his throat and were met with the sticky wetness of his own blood. How could this be? They had forged the ring? Had Celebrimbor forsaken him, abandoned him for the ring? Frantically, Talion searched his soul for any trace of the elf lord. Instead of the distant warmth that Celebrimbor's soul seemed to radiate, Talion was met with a vast, empty cold.

Mind swimming from the rapid loss of blood, Talion clawed blindly at the rocks around him. Through the haze, he saw a familiar blue glow, and hope flooded his body. He crawled toward the glow, leaving a thick trail of blood as he went, and as he neared it he recognized it as Celebrimbor's ring. Before his mind could realize the implications of the ring's presence, the darkness began to close in, and he collapsed to his stomach, one hand going to his throat while the other reached toward the ring in vain. Then, an instant before the blackness took him, the ring seemed to shift and _leap_ onto Talion's finger. Instantly, a warmth flooded him, restoring his sight and strength.

After a few moments, Talion pushed himself onto his feet, still breathing heavily. As soon as he was able, he searched the cavern for a trace of the elf lord. Dread began to pool in his stomach as he realized that Celebrimbor wasn't there. Where had the wraith gone? They had forged the ring, so why would he leave now?

Closing his eyes, Talion focused his mind on the ring. It pulsed on his finger, emitting a blue light he could see even with his eyes closed. Pushing deeper, Talion could feel a familiar warmth, the pieces of Celebrimbor's soul that the elf lord had painstakingly poured into the ring as they had crafted it. Latching onto that, Talion broadened his focus. If he could detect the wraith's presence in the ring, perhaps… There! It was faint, but Talion could feel the elf lord's spirit.

. . .

Talion ran through the wastes of Mordor for days. He barely noticed the passing of time, resting only once his body collapsed. He didn't have to rest long, however, as the ring gave him strength unlike any he had ever felt before. Even when Celebrimbor possessed his body and pushed it to its limits he hadn't had this kind of power. It might have been intoxicating had Talion's mind not been wholly focused on finding the wraith.

He reached the cave on the fourth day, and only then did he slow his pace. He could feel Celebrimbor's presence much stronger now, and he reached out with his mind to the wraith. '_Celebrimbor? Where are you, wraith?' _Immediately, Talion's mind was overwhelmed with another presence, just as powerful as Celebrimbor's, if not more so. Wary,Talion drew his dagger, eliminating the orcs within the cave in near silence. Still, that powerful presence lingered, and Talion drew his sword as he walked deeper into the cave.

He had just stepped into a cave much larger than the passages he had been traveling through when he felt the ring on his finger grow almost unbearably hot. Casting his eyes over the walls of the dark space, Talion's gaze was drawn by a shrouded light. Stepping forward, his eyes widened as his brain processed what he was seeing.

"Celebrimbor!" The elf lord was hanging limply in the air, supported by what looked like dark mists. His form glowed faintly as if weakened, and the wraith didn't react to Talion's words.. "What has been done to you?"

"You have kept us waiting." The reply came not from Celebrimbor's seemingly unconscious form but seemed to echo from all around Talion. He raised his blade and turned slowly, seeking the voice's source.

"Let him go!" he demanded, turning suddenly at the movement in the corner of his eye only to be met with nothing but the grey stone of the cave wall.

"A spider does not relinquish its prey, Ranger. Not unless a greater prize is set before it." Talion spun back toward Celebrimbor and was met with an unholy sight. There, emerging from the darkness, was a giant spider, exoskeleton glimmering black. Talion was frozen in place as it descended toward him, but as the first of its legs touched the ground, they began to change, and before long, an ethereal woman in silken black robes stood before him.

"I called you here for a reason." Her voice was the same as the spider's, soft and echoing in a way that made his skin crawl.

Raising his sword, Talion shook off his wonder and stepped forward, the blade less than a foot from the woman's chest. "You will return him," he commanded. "Now." Instead of responding, the woman raised her hand and made a fist, and above her, Celebrimbor began to writhe in pain. The elf lord's moans cut at Talion's soul, and he lowered his sword slightly as the woman stalked forward.

"You are brave, for a man," she whispered, running a cold hand along his shoulder and back. "But it is not your sword that will save him." She pushed the blade down even further with a single finger. Talion let it drop. She moved in front of him, and Talion found that he couldn't look away from her eyes. "How much are you willing to sacrifice? _To suffer?_" Although the first phrase was said aloud, Talion felt the second in his mind, and his eyes narrowed as thoughts of his past flashed through his mind.

"I have given up everything!" he snarled.

"Not everything. Not yet."

The woman's gaze fell, and Talion looked down to the glowing ring on his finger. The ring that he and Celebrimbor had slaved over for so long. The ring that they had poured their very beings into.

"You want the ring." The words felt heavy on the air.

The woman smiled, and Talion saw fangs. "You would give me the ring for the wraith."

That nearly made Talion laugh in disbelief. "And find myself beside him in your web?"

To Talion's surprise, the woman snarled and stepped backward, throwing her arms out. The darkness seemed to reach toward her, wrapping around her pale arms and lifting her a foot into the air. "I am Shelob," she declared, "and I deal only in truth." At Talion's silence, she smiled. "I wouldn't give it up either."

Turning away, Shelob began to float toward Celebrimbor. As she approached, the mists seemed to draw tighter around the elf lord, and he began to struggle once more, quiet cries of pain slipping from his lips.

Talion let out a soft curse and stepped forward. "Wait."

In between his cries, Celebrimbor managed to summon the strength to protest. "Talion...no!" Talion ignored the wraith, his gaze firmly on the woman in front of him. "Take your prize," he ground out between clenched teeth, wrenching the ring from his finger and tossing it to the stone. Shelob caught it deftly, but Talion barely noticed. The gaping wound in his throat had opened once more, forcing him to his knees. Dimly, he heard the woman say,

"I'm impressed, Ranger. He must mean something to you." There was a pause and then, "Go to your puppet before he dies."

A moment later, blue light flooded Talion's vision, and Celebrimbor stood before him. "You have doomed us, Talion," the elf lord said, disappointment palpable in his voice. "Her power was vast before, and now you have given her mine!" Talion collapsed, no longer able to hold himself upright, his lifeblood staining the grey stone red. "I poured my life force into that ring!"

Anger coursed through Talion, and he struggled to his feet once more. Standing as straight as he could, he looked the elf lord in the eyes. "Then we must take it back," he grit, and Celebrimbor sneered before stepping forward and joining once more with Talion.

Instantly, that distant warmth filled the ranger, and his soul seemed to sigh in relief. Then, he drew his sword, and as one he and Celebrimbor yelled, "Shelob!"

They made it only a few paces before the woman turned and stopped their sword with a mere flick of her wrist.

"The war you came to fight is not here. The ring is lost," she chided as an unseen power forced Talion to his knees. A cold finger tilted his head up to look once more into Shelob's eyes. "So look to Minas Ithil and the Dark Lord's armies that surround it." Talion stood in a trance. "Look to the Palantir. Sauron will not stop until all of Middle-Earth is dominated," the woman whispered into Talion's ear. He was about to push her away when his mind _opened_ and he saw Minas Ithil being overrun with Uruks, saw himself standing in dark and ruined streets, saw the tower enveloped in a poisonous green light.

Stumbling backward, Talion clutched at his chest, trying to regain his breathing. He turned to leave the cavern, but the glowing form of Celebrimbor stopped him. "Minas Ithil," he murmured before looking into the wraith's eyes. He saw disapproval there, but he couldn't find the strength to care. "I must know if Shelob's vision holds true!" He pushed passed the wraith, his mind fixed on the city of his people.

. . .

A day and a half of running later, Talion collapsed, utterly exhausted. Celebrimbor, who had been silent the entire time, a disapproving shadow in the back of Talion's mind, materialized and knelt next to him, watching wordlessly as Talion pushed himself onto his hands and knees and crawled into a small crevice in the rocks, hardly large enough to be called a cave and leaned against the wall.

When Talion had enough strength, he raised his head to look the wraith in the eyes. "Go ahead and say it. Your brooding will do us no good."

"Brooding?" The elf lord's voice was icy. "I am merely searching for the logic in your choice. So far, I have found none." Talion rested his head against the rock and closed his eyes.

"I could not leave you at the mercy of that creature," he stated, his tone weary and lacking any real argumentative strength.

"You should have!" Celebrimbor snapped. "You could have accomplished our mission using my ring. It was a perfect ring, untouched by Sauron's malice. It would have made you into more than his equal."

Talion chuckled without opening his eyes. "What, as if you would trust a lowly human to fulfil your vengence and weild something so powerful? Ha!" Celebrimbor didn't answer, and Talion smiled grimly to himself. He knew the elf lord was too proud to ever think that Sauron's demise could be accomplished without him, even if Talion did have a ring of power. Talion chuckled again before settling in to rest.

A few minutes later, Talion's half-sleep was interrupted by Celebrimbor's voice in his mind. '_I would have trusted you.'_

"What?" Talion asked aloud, groggy from the sudden intrusion on his rest.

'_I would have trusted you with my ring.' _Celebrimbor's voice was unusually quiet, and it took Talion a few moments to process what the elf lord was implying. Once he did, his eyes flew open, and he sat up a little straighter.

"Even if I believed that, I couldn't have left you there, Celebrimbor. You have suffered enough to last several lifetimes. I could not let you suffer more when I had the power to stop it," Talion explained, matching the soft tone of Celebrimbor's voice.

The wraith tilted his head and studied Talion for a few moments before nodding slowly. "And that is why I would have trusted you with my ring. Even in this land of shadow, you have managed to hold onto the light. That spirit would have made you a powerful ringbearer."

For several moments, Talion was speechless. The elf lord never admitted to his faults, and yet here he was, apologizing in his own way. Eventually, Talion reached out and put a hand on Celebrimbor's shoulder, his skin tingling when it made contact with the wraith's ghostly form. "I am powerful enough with you," he said simply. "We will find a way to take back the ring, but first we must warn Minas Ithil of the danger that they face. Then we can deal with the spider."

Celebrimbor looked like he wanted to argue the point further, but instead, he nodded. "Sleep, Talion. Your city of man will wait a few more hours." Talion held the elf lord's gaze for several long moments before nodding and resting against the wall once more. Within a few seconds, sleep claimed him.

. . .

A/N Please let me know what you thought of this little drabble!


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